This conceptual article argues that although imagination is a highly important dynamic of the mind with strong potential to assist language development, imagination alone does not work by itself. Instead, a strategic framework is needed to support imagination by connecting it with playful teaching and amusing content. The article begins by…

Play is linked to healthy child development and is recognised in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. School breaktimes provide regular opportunities for children to play, and as such, they have been the context of a large and interdisciplinary body of research on play. Play research has diverse aims and cuts across many academic…

The present study investigated early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers' practices when they were engaged in play with children aged 2 to 3 years old. Both in a Norwegian context and internationally the number of younger children in ECEC is increasing, and there is a need for knowledge about what characterizes high-quality teacher…

Although exploratory play is considered a hallmark of cognitive development and learning, relatively few studies have been able to quantitatively characterize the shifts that may occur in children's approach to exploration. One reason for this gap is due to challenges coding and analyzing children's exploratory play behavior. In our paper, we…

Children experience a range of emotions during their time in primary school; however, bereavement is both unique and challenging. This book seeks to enable adults working with children to be prepared for this part of life's journey and ready to support the child affected by the death of their loved one. This accessible book explores topics that…

Capturing the subtle and nuanced behaviours of very young children to honour their 'voice' in research is an ongoing methodological challenge. This paper details the evolution of a framework developed by the researchers in response to understanding the peer-to-peer relationshipss of infants and toddlers when engaging with digital technologies in…

A Lego Serious Play (LSP) - based exercise was developed to support student engagement with learning consolidation at the end of a first-year undergraduate cell biology course. The exercise was offered in addition to a regular revision session in preparation for the summative exam. Students were studying four-year BSc (Hons) degrees in: Animal…

This article reviews pretend play and its impact on and association with children's language. Studies have shown the significant relationship between the two domains; however, more intervention research needs conducting to validate the causal impact of pretend play. Nevertheless, several studies exploring its effects on early language reported…

Humor is a central feature of close and intimate relationships in childhood. However, fundamental questions regarding the relationship between humor production, pretend play, and social understanding have been overlooked. In a selected subsample from a prospective longitudinal study of first-born children (N = 110, M age = 6.91 years, 46.4%…

The aim of this study is to examine the parents' perceptions about outdoor play through metaphors. The study is conducted with 107 parents, 96 mothers and 11 fathers, with children between 0-72 months. The data has been collected via an online questionnaire. Parents completed the prompt "Playing outside is like…Because..." to indicate…

This paper introduces tools for converting circular-featured-waste into polygonal construction parts and then 3D polyhedra. The tools, including diagrams, 3D printable joiners and mathematical formulae are designed for mathematics-related play, re-use, learning, design and improvisation. Activities for students include making assemblies, gathering…

Designing games from the ground up is a popular activity for helping students think in designerly ways. Despite their benefits, such game design activities may place higher-than-anticipated demands on cognitive and institutional resources. In an effort to alleviate these demands, this study explored how playing and fixing partially completed games…

The authors surveyed public libraries to learn about the opportunities for play they offered and children's freedom to engage in such play without adult supervision. The authors conclude that, in recent years, public libraries in the United States have increasingly created spaces and programs enabling free play for children and teens. These…

The author follows a new materialist approach to consider the informal and collaborative creative gathering called jamming as creative play, and she makes a case for the jam as a transformative event of genuine intrasubjective dialogue. She uses Karen Barad's theory of agential realism and Hans-Georg Gadamer's ethics of play to argue for the jam…

Background: This study examined teacher educators' perceptions of play-based learning in the context of university-based teacher education programmes in Palestine. Methods: Using a cross-sectional, multi-method design, we explored factors relating to teacher educators' capability, opportunity and motivation to incorporate play-based learning into…